All of the demented, satanic, bloody – yet, at times, comical – things that have defined rocker-turned-horror-director Rob Zombie’s film career are all coming to life in his Great American Nightmare fest which opens this week at the Pomona Fairplex. The mayhem continues for 15 nights, running Thursdays-Sundays through Nov. 2 and features three haunted attractions based on Zombie’s films, “House of 1000 Corpses,” “The Lords of Salem” and “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto,” as well as nightly performances by national touring acts in the electro pop (3OH!3, Blood on the Dance Floor), punk (the Vandals, T.S.O.L.), EDM (Zomboy, Destroid), metal (Rob Zombie, Winds of Plague, Butcher Babies), alternative rock (the Used, Andrew W.K.) and Latin (Ozomatli, Metalachi) music genres.

The event will also host multiple scare zones, a Rob Zombie museum featuring his complete movie and music history, a jumbotron screening various classic horror films, food, beer and wine vendors and a horror-themed market place, all starting at just $30 for general admission entry.

“You’d pay that just to see some of these bands perform,” co-music producer Kevin Lyman, creator of the annual Vans Warped Tour, says while standing outside the venue earlier this week. Lyman and fellow music producer John Reese, creator of the Mayhem and Uproar fests, were responsible for booking the varied talent.

“The music is an added bonus,” Zombie contends, while walking through the Haunt of 1,000 Corpses attraction. “The mazes are the real attraction. Everyone loves Halloween, but not everyone likes the same kind of music, so that’s why I wanted to make it different every night. The whole event is kind of an overload of things to do. I wanted to keep it affordable and make things so that it kept moving, because a lot of times it seems like you spend a lot of time just standing in line. When you see those things at (theme) parks that say ‘An hour and 45-minute wait from this point,’ it’s like, oh (forget) that.”

Zombie worked closely with haunted house designer and producer Steve Kopelman to make his nightmare a reality. Within the three mazes, horror fans will be put through some of their biggest fears. In The Lords of Salem: Total Blackout, guests’ heads are covered with hoods and they’re forced to feel their way through the darkness, unaware of what they’re actually touching. “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto 3D” is a colorful cartoon world with a unique and adult-themed, claustrophobic entrance and the 3D element enhances the experience, making it difficult to decipher what’s real or fake. The Haunt of 1,000 Corpses pays tribute to the 10th anniversary of Zombie’s directorial debut and takes fans through an expanded version of Captain Spaulding’s “murder ride” in his Museum of Monsters & Madmen.

“You want to take whatever is in the movie and accentuate it and bring it more in-your-face,” Kopelman says as we walk through a few scenes which depict the terrifying acts of real-life American serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, the Zodiac Killer and Charles Manson . “We were thinking about how we could adapt (the film) and still stay true to everything Rob does. We utilized all of the characters (in “House of 1,000 Corpses”) – the Firefly family, Captain Spaulding, who has become iconic, and people just love it, so in here you get to run amok in this crazy homage to serial killers.”

“This is, at the core, pretty demented and each room exploits one more horrible human tragedy than the next,” Zombie adds. “This whole event is in quite poor taste.”

Some may brand Great American Nightmare as being satanic, depraved and immoral. Zombie is banking on it. It’s the same sort of stance the film industry initially took on “House of 1,000 Corpses” more than a decade ago, but once it was seen by audiences it has become a horror cult classic. Zombie even jokes that now his films have eclipsed his long-running music career.

“I think it’s great just because the movie had such a messed up history,” he shares. “So many people were like ‘You’re wasting your time. Just let it die. Forget about it. Or, boy, you really (messed) that one up.’ So, 10 years later, this movie just never stops selling and it gets more and more popular every year.”

Rob Zombie outside the maze he designed for "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
Rob Zombie describes a maze he designed for "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
A prop dog is on display in "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" maze at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
Steve Kopelman describes the construction of a maze featured in "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
Various mannequins featured in "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
Rob Zombie is outside a maze in "Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare" at the Pomona Fairplex. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER
Steve Kopelman, left, and Rob Zombie walk through a maze featured in Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare at the Pomona Fairplex Monday afternoon. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE REGISTER

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